Tesla Shares its Vision Park Assist Feature

Since Tesla’s removal of ultrasonic sensors (USS) from its vehicles around late last year, some drivers have complained about the loss of park assistance. Now, Tesla has shared its Vision-based park assist feature in a new update, without the use of USS hardware.

Above: A Tesla Model 3 in a parking garage (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Tesla’s Vision Park Assist feature has been rolling out with software update 2023.6.9 in recent weeks, and a few users have been sharing their experiences so far, including Twitter user @EVBaymax, or Kevin (via Not a Tesla App). Kevin used the Tesla Vision Park Assist and shared a few videos about his experiences.

For the most part, the reviews were highly positive, with Kevin even busting out his tape measure to double-check the camera sensors’ work. While the car says that the bumper is about 18 inches away from the curb, Kevin notes that the vehicle is “just a bit further” than 18 inches, calling it “surprisingly accurate.”

“Super-impressive what Tesla has been able to do,” Kevin said in one of the videos. “This is… Wow, I’m impressed.”

As with any new Tesla feature, it’s worth noting how there’s still room for the feature to improve. Some have reported less positive experiences than Kevin’s, though Tesla is likely to continue deploying fixes and improvements with future updates. Later in the thread, Kevin even shared one video showing the “Park Assist Loading” message for about 10 seconds, saying that he hopes the issue can be improved in the future.

He also pointed out that Vision Park Assist became completely unavailable during two separate instances of backing into his garage. Kevin noted a few specific reasons for the potential failures, including the fact that it had rained recently, which could have caused the rear camera to become dirty.

Vision Park Assist is definitely not perfect! Two incidents when backing into my garage where park assist went completely unavailable.

My guess as to why?
- slightly dirty rear camera (it did rain)
- not enough light
- probably defaults to unavailable when unsure of itself pic.twitter.com/HhQ3qAaDLW

— kEVin (@EVBaymax) March 24, 2023

Many Tesla drivers with the automaker’s USS vehicles have also reported mixed reviews, however, and Vision seems to be a step in the right direction overall. Another user in the thread, @HugoDiGio, even highlighted how rough USS Park Assist experiences can be, writing, “In this kind of situation, my ultrasonics sensors see nothing or make lot of false negative detection. That's impressive."

In any case, Tesla Vision is where the company appears to be headed, and the reintroduction of Park Assist will only serve to benefit drivers — especially as the company rolls out continued improvements.

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Sources: Twitter / Not a Tesla App